2,5" to M.2 adapter/bracket/whatever?

[Octopuss]

I have a small home server (mostly used for running virtualized TrueNAS but that's not important) with four SATA SSDs connected to a HBA, which I'm thinking about upgrading for a NVMe one (partially for power consumption reasons and partially for having an upgrade itch for speed) and new SSDs, but mounting several M.2 drives seems to be pretty problematic, and I couldn't google up anything meaningful even after trying for a few days, so I'm asking.
I don't even know how whatever it is I want should look like, but considering I also want to move the server to a little smaller case (currently Fractal Node 804 which is just pointlessly big) (but it must still support Micro-ATX motherboard), I assume something that is either in the form of some sort of a "2,5" to 2xM.2 adapter" (I assume 2xM.2 would fit into a usual case mount for a 2,5" drive) or something that mounts into a PCI slot (but isn't actually a card).

It could be anything as long as it's universal. But I'm starting to doubt it exists! Does it?

 

[pimposh]

I assume something that is either in the form of some sort of a "2,5" to 2xM.2 adapter" (I assume 2xM.2 would fit into a usual case mount for a 2,5" drive)

QNAP QDA-U2MP
Then only question remain how to get’em connected to PCI to get native 3x4 speeds.
Alternatively if you do not care about native nvme, bit of translation via tri-mode 9500, and you can tuck multiple of them…

Or some of IcyDock’s.

But i’d go for U2 instead od M2 given you have freedom of choice in sense that you are not M2 constrained.

 

[Octopuss]

Wait, I said this was for TrueNAS, so the SSDs WILL be connected to the HBA, not to motherboard.

And I am not familiar with U.2 at all above having a vague feeling it's a server stuff. That probably means such SSDs would cost half a kidney rather than a few bucks a decently fine regular M.2 would.

 

[Octopuss]

Ok I forgot to mention I am running TrueNAS virtualized, hence the HBA requirement.

 

[pimposh]

How are you going to connect these M2 to HBA and what HBA is it ?

 

[Octopuss]

How are you going to connect these M2 to HBA and what HBA is it ?

Broadcom 9500-8i most likely.
I presume there is a cable for that? The specs say it supports NVMe. This is a completely new territory for me so maybe I'm thinking in too simple and naive desktop PC terms?

 

[nexox]

And I am not familiar with U.2 at all above having a vague feeling it's a server stuff. That probably means such SSDs would cost half a kidney rather than a few bucks a decently fine regular M.2 would.

Used U.2 drives can be had with quite a lot of life left for not all that much, and cheap m.2 drives are generally pretty awful for server use. The downside for U.2 is higher power consumption and they require some cooling.

Ok I forgot to mention I am running TrueNAS virtualized, hence the HBA requirement.

I admittedly haven't virtualized TrueNAS but what's that about an HBA requirement? That seems unreasonably strict as a hardware requirement.

 

[alaricljs]

HBA pass-through is the simplest and lowest overhead for storage pass-through. Other options exist, but reasons.

 

[nexox]

HBA pass-through is the simplest and lowest overhead for storage pass-through. Other options exist, but reasons.

Wouldn't passing the NVMe devices through directly be the lowest overhead, since they wouldn't need to go through an HBA at all?

 

[reasonsandreasons]

Yeah, you don't need a HBA, you just need the raw storage devices passed through to the VM. For SATA or SAS you can do that by passing through a HBA (or your motherboard's SATA controller if you don't need Proxmox to access it); for NVMe, PCIe passthrough should do just fine. You planning to use a HBA here is adding another layer you don't need.

If you're trying to get around issues with avalible PCIe lanes, a device with a PCIe switch is probably a better solution than a tri-mode HBA (from my understanding those aren't great with NVMe, though they can be good for SATA and SAS). I believe OWC's U.2 shuttle provides this in a nice package. There's another enterprise option I'll add to this post if I can dig it up, too.

Edit: Viking Enterprises U20040, typically goes for around $50 on eBay.

 

[alaricljs]

Wouldn't passing the NVMe devices through directly be the lowest overhead, since they wouldn't need to go through an HBA at all?

Ha... Didn't even notice the drive type, was assuming SAS/SATA. So um, yeah

 

[Octopuss]

So now that the HBA requirement is out of the door, how would I connect 4xM.2 SSDs in the most elegant, space saving way in a compact case?
I doubt there is a PCIe card with slots for four SSDs, so perhaps something that houses 2xM.2 in a regular 2,5" mount "point"?

 

[reasonsandreasons]

If your motherboard supports 4x4x4x4 bifurcation of your PCIe x16 slot, you can use a passive card like this. If not, you'll need a card that has a PCIe switch; there's a good thread here about those.

 

[Blue4130]

So now that the HBA requirement is out of the door, how would I connect 4xM.2 SSDs in the most elegant, space saving way in a compact case?
I doubt there is a PCIe card with slots for four SSDs, so perhaps something that houses 2xM.2 in a regular 2,5" mount "point"?

The issue is going to be PCIE lanes. You mention using a m-atx board. I will assume that you are on either a ryzen or intel consumer cpu. Are you running a GPU in the machine? Does the board support bifurcation?

 

[Octopuss]

What makes you think I am on consumer board?
The board actually WILL be a problem, but for a completely different reason: it's a Supermicro X11SCH-F which only supports PCIe 3.0, so I will most likely upgrade the server first. Not that I don't want to, I want something more power efficient.

I am actually not sure whether it even supports bifurcation (the specs don't mention it at all), but even if it did, the resulting speeds would likely suck.
I also have 10Gbit NIC in the other slot so lanes-wise, I doubt the platform is good enough for what I'm planning here.

 

[Netwerkz101]

What makes you think I am on consumer board?
The board actually WILL be a problem, but for a completely different reason: it's a Supermicro X11SCH-F which only supports PCIe 3.0, so I will most likely upgrade the server first. Not that I don't want to, I want something more power efficient.

I am actually not sure whether it even supports bifurcation (the specs don't mention it at all), but even if it did, the resulting speeds would likely suck.
I also have 10Gbit NIC in the other slot so lanes-wise, I doubt the platform is good enough for what I'm planning here.

The lack of specific info (make/model) of equipment used and intentions of use/changes always helps others to help you.
15 post in and we finally know what you are working with.

Good luck.

 

[Octopuss]

There's no need to be snarky though, is there?
(and I was sure I had a signature here with the server specs, apparently not)

 

[nexox]

I am actually not sure whether it even supports bifurcation (the specs don't mention it at all), but even if it did, the resulting speeds would likely suck.
I also have 10Gbit NIC in the other slot so lanes-wise, I doubt the platform is good enough for what I'm planning here.

If 64Gbps full duplex (the 3.0x8 slot you have,) isn't sufficient then I don't think you want m.2 devices at all, the modern fast ones are generally very targeted to benchmark performance and give up a lot in terms of reliability and longevity, their reliance on large volatile write caches is particularly poorly-suited to server use.

 

[Octopuss]

To be honest, the entire HBA upgrade idea transformed into something completely different and I haven't thought about the specifics yet, however I am pretty sure I wouldn't be going for the newest gen SSDs anyway. Anything faster than SATA is good enough, and fortunately almost anything with decent durability will do, because the NAS I run is primarily static storage for daily computer backups and illicit content. I don't really NEED to upgrade anything, but I am an impatient arse, and if I can make backing few GBs (to tens of GBs once in a while) up happen twice as fast, I'll go for it.
I haven't even thought what SSDs would I be looking for yet, I'm just trying to put together the concept. I know I'll need 2TB ones to achieve the same capacity though.

 

[nexox]

SAS12 SSDs are faster than SATA, designed for server use, and connect easily to PCIe 3.0 HBAs. They use a little more power than SATA and probably require a bit of fan cooling (depends on the model) but they're usually a bit cheaper used, downside is some of them are almost unusable if they come from the wrong vendor's systems (IBM are to be avoided for instance,) and so shopping for them can be tricky.